Already in Oakland County, the Eastern Michigan Asylum Historic District in Pontiac has been lost forever.

Once a historic landmark, the site was demolished in 2000 and the land eventually become a residential neighborhood where it once stood on Elizabeth Lake Road near Telegraph Road.

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The complex, which once spanned more than 800 acres, held various names throughout the years -- the Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane, Eastern Michigan Asylum, the Pontiac State Hospital and eventually Clinton Valley Center.

Bruce Annett Jr., a professor at Lawrence Tech University, wrote a book on the site called "Asylum: Pontiac's Grand Monument from the Gilded Age."

Annett said the complex was designed by architect Elijah E. Meyers, who was known for his Victorian Gothic styles in the 19th century.

Meyers designed many government buildings, including the state capitol in Texas, Colorado and Michigan, Annett said.

Some groups fought to keep the buildings.

"There was a core group of people in the community and the region who fought on them," Annett said. "There were some lawsuits, which failed. Earlier, in the 1980s, the County of Oakland and City of Pontiac proposed some options for reuse (commercial and residential) ... by the time the buildings were vacated, there was a change in administration in Pontiac, and for some reason no viable proposals emerged."

The architecture, and the fact the complex was once a historical landmark did little to save the buildings from being demolished.

"In the end, when the buildings were torn down, in the year 2000, there were several hundred acres and about 80 buildings dating back to the 19th century," Annett said. "The buildings were torn down even though they were on the National Register of Historic Places ... they are not protected (by that)."

To Annett, the buildings were a huge loss for the City of Pontiac.

"I do believe the razing of the buildings was a loss for the community," Annett said. "They had potential for adaptive reuse. In other communities, for example in Traverse City, they have a large (former asylum) complex that is being reused ... it's developing as an attraction. The buildings in Pontiac were more ornate and interesting than the ones in Traverse City, however we've lost them here."

The area where they stood was bulldozed beyond recognition.

"The land was actually scraped clean and reconfigured ... now there's a residential development there," Annett said, adding he would have loved to see what the buildings could have become.

"I was told the Pontiac buildings could have been readily adapted for new uses, not as a hospital, but for reuse," Annett said. "When they were built, they were built with large chases and flues put into the buildings -- those could have been used to run electrical and digital wiring or gas lines and utility-type items between floors so it would have enhanced their viability for adaptive use."

But now, the old Pontiac Asylum only exists as a memory in photographs.